Europe Day 2016: Sharing the language of dance

24 May 2016

“Move to the rhythm of Europe! If you have a passion for music and a talent for rhythm, do not miss your chance to participate in a dance workshop with the talented Mircea Ecxarcu.”
This message encouraged young Armenians to join and attend a very well-known and talented European dancer’s dance workshops taking place in Yerevan. Mircea’s visit was organised by the EU Delegation to Armenia within the framework of the 2016 Europe Day celebrations.
Mircea is one of the youngest choreographers and dance teachers in Romania. Thanks to his talent for quickly learning street dance styles and his creativity, he swiftly progressed in dancing – from apprentice to choreographer and teacher. Mircea was 19 when he started to train and teach specific dancing styles of hip hop, such as popping and locking; he learned them from their creators and adopted the styles almost instantly. During his stay in Yerevan, Mircea held three workshops with young Armenians, dance lovers, and dance teachers. Together, they created a dance choreography, which will be performed on 5 June 2016 in Yerevan during the Information Fair in Yerevan, at the Northern Avenue .During Mircea’s visit, we had the chance to speak with him and ask about his visit, his workshops and his thoughts about Armenians:How do you find Armenia? What have you seen?This is my first time in Armenia. Yerevan is a very nice city, but because of my schedule, I didn’t see much, just a few streets. I’d like to see more of it, especially old places; I heard there are many of them in Armenia. People here are very warm and friendly. I was excited to come here because I want to see what is outside Europe; I’m personally a little tired to see the same European patterns everywhere; we all know how Europe functions, so I am very interested in seeing different nations who have different cultures than those of most of Europe.Do you know anything about Armenian dance?For me, it’s also interesting to see how Armenian traditional dances look. I saw young people from the workshops doing some steps, but I want to see more. Maybe we will integrate some details in our final dance because it could be a very interesting mix of old and new.How is the dialogue between you and Armenian young people?The dialogue is ok – I have a translator, and some of them understand English. Together, we are preparing fun dances, like a flash mob, in which 22-25 people will dance; I hope they will enjoy what they are doing. I see in my mind the final result, I see how it will be, I’ll teach them all the elements, but then it will be up to them. You know, dance is always great and it’s a universal language. Sharing with each other the language of dance and the language of music through dance is always a very expressive experience. I hope they will use that to find out who they are and see how they can express themselves in a different way.Can you compare Romania with Armenia? What are the differences and similarities?I have noticed that old Armenian and Romanian traditions are pretty similar, but I can see the differences in people. For example, in my country there is apathy, but here you don’t notice anything like that. In comparison with other European countries, I can say that all Europeans are creative, in my personal opinion, but some nations develop a bigger ego and, when pride is involved, the nature of expression is not the same. Here, people are very natural.

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